Trying to increase your range by pushing? You're not helping.

[SVCA]

It's really important for me to stress the fact that singing is a muscle-memory or at the least, that's the goal that we are working towards.

 

What does that mean?

 

It means that when you're doing any of the exercises you do to train your voice, you're making the appropriate muscles to behave in a certain way repetitively and in doing that, you submit that behavior into your body's "memory"('conditioning' would be a more appropriate word). And in this manner, you build a vocabulary of muscle-based skills that if learnt right would serve you well in singing since all you would do is recall the required skill from the body while you're singing. Most fundamental skills that we have like writing, speaking, driving and walking uses this magical learning ability of the body. 

 

 

 

Your body is simply going to learn what you repeat. It does not discriminate.

 

So if you're pushing your voice when you do the exercise in such a way that it strains you, be sure that it will stay and resurface every time you use your voice. 

 

 

Any exercise that can help?

 

Well, the first priority for us in order to increase our range is condition our instrument's engine - the vocal folds to vibrate at a high frequency or speed regardless of tonality. Most singers push their voice while trying to increase their range because they believe that it needs to sound powerful and belty right from the start. This is not the case. I believe its much more effective for you to practice singing higher with a light & effortless tone first and learn to build a powerful tone later. 

 

Yawn as if you would naturally. Notice the dull high pitched sound that it produces. (You're already 'singing' higher at this point  )

 

Now try sirening up & down your range with a relaxed hooty yawny quality all over your voice. Don't force it or make it uncomfortable exaggerated. Keep comfort as your key ingredient. Once you become comfortable with this sensation, start doing the same with scales. 

 

Remember, at the end of the day, your body can only understand physical sensations, not your thoughts. So as you're practicing, ,make sure to stay mindful and aware of how the exercise 'feels'. 

 

Hope that little tip helps!  

 

[john]

It would be interesting to see a demonstration of using the yawn to find that relaxed singing state, and then using it for going up and down your scales.

 

Does this exercise help with things like singing different sounds? So for example, some vowel sounds can be easier than others at the extremity of range.

[Pahchisme Plaid]

I can understand the muscle memory thing.  It seems there are familiar songs that are songs I can easily sing, whereas some of the same notes or transitions outside of that song might seem difficult on a particular day.  I chalk it up to not only having played with the familiar song vocally or practiced it again and again, but also being familiar with when to take a breath, how deep the breath, how long the hold, etc.  Yet the same note in another song might feel a bit awkward.  Same goes with my very limited guitar skills.  Muscle memory is the main reason I haven't completely lost what I've learned after pretty much years without practice.  Having the need for muscle memory highlighted gives compelling reason for regular vocal warm-ups and practices.

One of my concerns about finding warm-ups or drills online (being unfamiliar with vocal training), is knowing which ones are safe and from knowledgeable vocal coaches vs. someone who is passing themselves off as a vocal coach.  Ones I warm up with have a scales + triads warm-up, one that forces a puff of air out with the beginning consonant sound (1 of 3 consonants), one that I can't explain so much, but is meant for developing resonance and continuity in breaks, and one that is a humming drill followed by a goog sound drill.

I think they are safe, but I don't dare do too many other ones I find on Youtube.  I usually only do them prior to occasions I know that I will be singing shortly after the warm-up.  Is what vocalists do daily to give muscle memory to their voice of a different sort than any of those and how long does it usually take?  

[Lisa Gates]

Hi P, nice to see you back! I too question the free Youtube vocal warm ups. I have used a few but did not "commit" my voice to them just in case I was doing it wrong...

[Mahesh]

On 2/3/2020 at 9:08 PM, john said:

It would be interesting to see a demonstration of using the yawn to find that relaxed singing state, and then using it for going up and down your scales.

 

Does this exercise help with things like singing different sounds? So for example, some vowel sounds can be easier than others at the extremity of range.

 

 

About the vowel sounds, yes, each of the vowels have their own effect on where the sound from your vocal cords is directed to and how it is going to sound. For example, "eh" is a bright vowel sound and if you were to purely pronounce and sing through your range, you will see a considerable resistance in the throat in the top notes. But "oo" is a dull vowel sound and if you were to use the yawn exercise to practice it with, you'll find it much easier (and effective!). They behave quite differently. So, to answer your question, handling vowel and vowel modifications are advanced skills and tasks to look into on their own and this exercise doesn't directly (atleast) address it . I'll be sure to cover that in the SVCA course that we are working on!

 

The exercise I mentioned, on the other hand, helps to build the co-ordination needed even before you open your mouth and pronounce any vowel.

 

When I say the word "John", the vocal cords are the ones vibrating & generating the sound while the articulators (jaw, tongue, lips etc) are mostly* dealing with the meaning or pronunciation of the sound.

 

When you do the exercise mentioned above, we are focusing on making the vocal cords move faster (or slower) in a very comfortable way. It helps build dexterity, regardless of what vowel you will use it for in the future.

 

Does that make sense @john?

[Mahesh]

On 2/6/2020 at 7:34 PM, Pahchisme Plaid said:

I can understand the muscle memory thing.  It seems there are familiar songs that are songs I can easily sing, whereas some of the same notes or transitions outside of that song might seem difficult on a particular day.  I chalk it up to not only having played with the familiar song vocally or practiced it again and again, but also being familiar with when to take a breath, how deep the breath, how long the hold, etc.  Yet the same note in another song might feel a bit awkward.  Same goes with my very limited guitar skills.  Muscle memory is the main reason I haven't completely lost what I've learned after pretty much years without practice.  Having the need for muscle memory highlighted gives compelling reason for regular vocal warm-ups and practices.

One of my concerns about finding warm-ups or drills online (being unfamiliar with vocal training), is knowing which ones are safe and from knowledgeable vocal coaches vs. someone who is passing themselves off as a vocal coach.  Ones I warm up with have a scales + triads warm-up, one that forces a puff of air out with the beginning consonant sound (1 of 3 consonants), one that I can't explain so much, but is meant for developing resonance and continuity in breaks, and one that is a humming drill followed by a goog sound drill.

I think they are safe, but I don't dare do too many other ones I find on Youtube.  I usually only do them prior to occasions I know that I will be singing shortly after the warm-up.  Is what vocalists do daily to give muscle memory to their voice of a different sort than any of those and how long does it usually take?  

 

Regular daily warm ups are indeed paramount. Singing is an athletic skill. When you sing, you are asking your entire body to comfortably manipulate all the various qualities of sound at any time, in any fashion and in an extremely small timespan.

 

Now compare that with another skill like going to the gym and lifting weights. Even the best wouldn't attempt lifting an extremely heavy weight first thing in the morning. We'd have to start light and get the muscles stretched and ready before moving to more challenging tasks. Warms ups with singing are supposed to do exactly that.

 

With regard to finding online lessons, I totally hear you. There's a LOT of misunderstanding about how the voice works. Adding to it, many vocal coaches tend to suggest random exercises without any context as to how they help and why. From there, it's upto the student to just keep doing those exercises and wait until they get better.  That's a concerning approach to learning a skill, furthermore to the art and the field of education. (That's what I intend to change)

 

Generally, when you do these exercises, they aren't too much harm as long you don't hurt your voice with it. But I would be lying if I said it's not problematic.

 

Ultimately, the goal of effortless singing is for a person to have identified and trained a healthy vocabulary of muscle co-ordinations in to their voice. This vocabulary could be easily triggered and recalled when you are singing without much intervention of the mind. But when you are teaching your body those co-ordinations that you're not sure of, you are welcoming a soup of random muscle skills that may or may not be necessary.

 

Yes. Vocalists doing daily warms ups is basically the equivalent of professional marathon runners going for a jog every morning. Your body needs conditioning and that takes time. It could be from 2 months to 2 years based on your approach, the awareness that you use to apply the approach and how regularly you are revisiting it. It's not an exact science since each body is different while each mind is too. We need focus on both the instrument and the performer.